


Reverberation

by not_a_total_basket_case



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Canon Compliant, Echo Appreciation Week, F/M, Missing Scene, One Shot, One Shot Collection, some will be becho
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-12
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-08-22 15:42:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16600814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/not_a_total_basket_case/pseuds/not_a_total_basket_case
Summary: A collection of one shots for Echo Appreciation Week!Day 1 - fave fanfic trope, coffee shop auDay 2 - pre canonDay 3 - favourite relationshipDay 4 - favourite time-jump head canonDay 5- N/ADay 6 - AU (posted separately)Day 7 - Free day - domestic fluff





	1. One more coffee before I go

**Author's Note:**

> Day 1 - Favourite fanfic trope  
> I went with a coffee shop AU because they're honestly adorable and Echo needs some sweetness in her life!

Echo has worked at Ice Nation Coffee House since she was fifteen. It’s not a great name for a coffee shop, but they do make the best iced coffees in town. Roan Winter, her then boyfriend's mum owns it and had reluctantly hired Echo after Roan had told her he’d quit otherwise. Her and Roan had broken up before they even finished high school and Nia had, for whatever weird reason, decided to keep her on.

It’s not the most glamorous job, she doesn’t even particularly like it, doesn’t particularly feel like she belongs. But it pays the bills and it’s gotten her through to her senior year of college. Six more months and she can move on. New state, new city, new life. She doesn’t know where she’s going, just that she’s going.

“What can I get you?” Echo says, plastering a smile to her face as a man approaches the till. He’s probably a few years older than her, thick dark hair hanging in his eyes. He’s smiling at her under a smattering of freckles and what looks like a stressful few days of facial hair.

“What’s good here?” He smirks, running a hand through his hair and pushing it out of his eyes.

It’s a personal rule of Nia’s not to flirt with customers, she doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable and after a particularly bad incident, Echo doesn’t blame her. But if she could, Echo would definitely be flirting with this guy.

“We make great iced coffee,” she says, instead of the ‘ _me_ ,’ she really wanted to. “And you can’t go wrong with chai tea.”

“I’ll just get a regular chai tea to go then,” he says. Echo is sure she imagines the fact he looks put out.

“Can I get a name?” Echo asks, reaching for a pen and cup. There is no one else around, but she has to ask anyway. It’s policy. And Nia is nothing if not a stickler for the rules.

“Bellamy,” he says. Of course, he has an attractive name. “I - ugh, I’m actually opening a coffee shop up the street and was sent down to scope out the competition.”

“Okay?” Echo says, writing his name on the cup and calling the order out to Shaw. She could make it herself, but she’s intrigued and doesn't want to leave the conversation. “Why are you telling me?”

“I feel like it’s not fair if I know and you don’t,” Bellamy says.

“You’d make a terrible spy,” Echo tells him, flicking her hair over her shoulder. She’s glad Nia is away for a month and Roan had decided it was quiet enough he could leave. Even if Shaw notices her slight flirting, he won’t dob her in. “You’re not supposed to even the playing field.”

“That’s why I’m opening a coffee shop and not being a spy,” Bellamy grins. “Because I would tell whoever I was spying on, to keep things fair.”

“I’d be good at it,” Echo says, grinning back. “You wouldn’t even know I was there.”

“I’ll keep an eye out for you in my shop then,” Bellamy smirks, raising a challenging eyebrow at her. “Can’t have you spying on me.”

“Where are you opening?” Echo asks, curiosity getting the better of her.

“Just a couple of blocks down actually,” Bellamy says, waving his hand in the general direction. “Next door to Green’s Goods.”

“Chai for Bellamy,” Shaw shouts to the empty shop, squeezing in beside Echo and handing the cup over. She digs her elbow into his side, hoping he’ll get the message and disappear but he doesn’t even flinch, just moves his foot until it’s stepping on hers. If Bellamy notices their silent struggle, he doesn’t say anything.

“Thanks,” he nods at Shaw and then turns to Echo, “I’ll see you around?” He phrases it like a question and Echo finds herself smiling a little giddily as she’s nods. She’s definitely already got a crush on someone she’s known for less than two minutes and is not allowed to have a crush on.

“We have a no flirting with the customer's policy,” Shaw says, as Bellamy walks out the door.

“Shut the fuck up, Miles,” Echo says, shoving him away.

“You wash your mouth out!” He shouts, rolling his eyes and stepping back into the office.

*

Bellamy comes in again the next day, when Echo is just about to go on her break. She takes his order and hands it over the counter to Ontari, struggling to hold back the eye roll when she sees where she’s staring.

“He’s gorgeous,” Ontari says, once Bellamy has stepped to the side to wait for his drink and won't be able to overhear them.

“We have a no flirting with the customers' policy,” Echo snaps. She doesn’t like Ontari at the best of times. She especially doesn’t like the idea of her making a move on Bellamy and discouraging him from coming back.

“Whatever,” Ontari mutters, turning back to the coffee machine to make the drink.

Echo slips off her apron and takes a sandwich from the fridge and steps into the shop. She’s settled at a table, thumbing through her facebook notifications when Bellamy joins her.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” He asks, tapping the chair opposite her.

“Sure,” she agrees, locking her phone and watching him sit down.

“I have an hour before I’m allowed back in my shop,” he tells her. “It’s getting painted and my friend who’s painting has just told me if I say another word he’ll paint my mouth shut.”

“You’re welcome to hang out a bit,” Echo laughs. “I have a half hour for lunch.”

They sit and ideally chat about the plans for his coffee shop and about Echo’s plans for life. She tells him about wanting to leave after her finals but that she doesn’t know where she’ll go. He tells her he did the same after a fallout with his sister and ended up here.

“It’s a pretty dead-end town to end up in,” Echo comments, wondering immediately if she overstepped.

“But it’s got some great people,” Bellamy shrugs. "All my friends live out here now, so it was a good place for me to come anyway."

"I suppose that does make the difference," Echo agrees. Her school friends have already left town, it's just her now. Having someone around would be what kept her here.

"It does. They're like my family," Bellamy tells her.

*

Over the next few weeks, Bellamy continues to come in and flirt with Echo. Some days she dials it right back because Nia is in and other days she flirts right back. It must be confusing for him but he never misses a beat. And he always puts the same amount of money in the tip jar, so it mustn’t bother him as much as it does her. Maybe he’s just a flirt?

Shaw will not let up about it either, teasing her whenever the opportunity arises. Which is just about every time Bellamy comes in because most of the time Nia ignores them, trusting them enough to run the front.

She wants to ask him out, but she doesn’t know enough about the situation. She was so sure that he was only coming in to check out the competition, but now she’s not so sure. The last time he’d come in, he’d stayed to chat with her for over an hour, until she had to kick him out so she could close the shop. The time before that, he’d used a lame pick up line. But he can’t be coming across town just to flirt with her.

“Loverboy is here,” Shaw whispers, stepping away from the till where he’d just served the previous customer.

“Shut up,” she grumbles, kicking his ankle as she walks past. Her heart drops a little as stands in the doorway, holding it open for a beautiful girl who appears to be with him. She laughs at something he says and goes to sit at a table, while Bellamy comes up to order.

“Ready to try our iced coffee?” She asks, when he gets to the counter. He’s refused her offer for an iced coffee every time he’s come in so far. ‘Coffee is meant to be hot, you heathen.’

“Raven will have one,” Bellamy says, nodding to his girlfriend, “but I’ll just have a latte.”

“Little boring for someone who owns a coffee shop?” Echo teases, unable to help herself. She’s just found out he has a girlfriend but teasing him is what she’s used to. It’s just teasing, not flirting. At least she knows not to ask him now, that would have been awkward. And not that it matters, but Nia is away for the weekend again.

“I need to check out the classics to know what we’re up against,” he grins, gesturing to his girlfriend again. So obviously she’s his business partner as well. So they’re serious.  

“You’re up against a really average latte and a really great iced coffee,” she whispers, handing the order over to Shaw and ringing him up on the till.

They chat idly while Shaw makes the drinks and she can’t help snorting when he burns himself because he’s glancing across the shop looking at Bellamy’s girlfriend. She makes a note to tease him about the second Bellamy walks back to the table.

“The best iced coffee in the state and a boring latte,” Echo says when Shaw hands her the cups. She passes them over to Bellamy and he flashes her a smile over his shoulder, as he joins his girlfriend in the corner.

“Checking out the competition?” Echo teases when she catches Shaw looking at the table again.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Shaw grins, turning his gaze back to Echo. “But one day we should definitely check out our competition.”

“You’re totally into Bellamy’s girlfriend,” Echo grins. She’s selfish, but she’s glad she’s not the only one showing interest in someone she can’t have.

“Girlfriend?” He asks, eyebrows raised. “You’re so naive.”

Echo doesn’t get the chance to answer, because the door jingles and a group of school kids walk in, ordering their weird combination of drinks. By the time the rush has died down, she’s completely forgotten about the comment.

*

“Okay,” Shaw declares, as they both leave their early morning shift. “I vote it’s our turn to go check out the competition.”

Echo turns to look at him, trying to decide if he’s serious. Bellamy’s coffee shop had officially opened over the weekend and they hadn’t seen him come in since. She’s not surprised, she’s sure he’s super busy. But she does miss him. And she wouldn’t mind going and seeing him.

“You want to go spy?” Echo asks slowly, already warming up to the idea. She’s dead curious about Bellamy’s shop and why he’d kept coming into theirs.

“It’s not spying if you tell them you’re doing it,” Shaw winks, leading the way down the street in the vague direction Bellamy had pointed the first day she’d met him.

It doesn’t take them long to find the coffee shop. It’s the only building on the street that’s changed.

The Ring was an abandoned bookshop the last time Echo had walked down this street and when they let themselves in, they can see they’ve definitely kept some of the original character. The back wall is lined with shelves and classic books that Echo wonders how Bellamy has gotten his hands on them. The tables are low with armchairs rather than the wooden chairs of Ice Nation.

Bellamy is standing behind the counter, chatting to a girl Echo vaguely recognises as the co-owner of Stick and Poke, the tattoo parlour next door. She’s nice, she used to come and get coffees from Ice Nation and always tipped well and rolled her eyes at Nia. She was the year below Echo at school. They both glance up when they hear the ringing of the bell and on the door and Bellamy’s face splits into a grin.

“Spying on us now?” He asks, pulling two mugs down and handing them to the kid at the coffee machine.

“I’ve already told you,” Echo grins, “you wouldn’t know if I was spying on you.”

“Uh huh,” he hums, smirking at her. It’s a good look on him. “I’m making you good lattes.”

If Echo didn’t hate her job, she’d feel the need to defend the coffee she sells, just on principle. But she does hate her job and she likes Bellamy, so instead she says, “of course you are. How much?”

“I’m comping them,” Bellamy says, “perks of owning the shop. I can give my favourites free drinks.”

Echo can’t help the smile on her face at his words. She also can’t help think of the girl she’d seen him with. The girl who’s his girlfriend. “Thanks.”

“When you’re done flirting, is Reyes here?” Shaw asks. Echo flushes, because she doesn't need the fact that she's flirting with Bellamy brought to his attention. Not when the girl who she thinks is his girlfriend is probably somewhere nearby.

“Raven’s in the back, she thinks she can fix our coffee machine,” Bellamy says, making quotation marks with his fingers around the word fix. “Go find her and remind her it’s a brand new machine.”

“This I’ve got to see,” Shaw grins, stepping behind the counter and slipping through a closed door. Echo stares a little dumbly after him, trying to understand why Bellamy was so happy to send someone in after his girlfriend, someone with a very obvious crush. It takes her a moment to realise that no one had ever confirmed that they were in a relationship, she’d just assumed it. And another moment to realise that Shaw must have been here before. And another moment to realise he probably brought her here for a reason. And that reason was probably to prove her wrong on the girlfriend aspect.

“Is there something going on there?” Echo asks, trying to hold down the flush. She’s still not convinced she’s right.

“I think Raven wants there to be something going on there?” Bellamy offers.

"So she's not your girlfriend?" Echo spits out before she can think any better of it.

"No," Bellamy laughs. "Raven is great. But we're just friends."

"Does that mean you'd be open to getting coffee with me at some point?" Echo smiles softly.

"We both work in coffee shops," Bellamy deadpans and then smiles back at her. "But I would love to get dinner with you sometime."

"Dinner sounds better," Echo agrees. She can't help the growing smile on her face, when he leans across the counter to squeeze her hand.

"I've been wanted to ask for a while," he admits. "But I couldn't tell if you were interested or just doing your job."

"This is just part of the service," Echo grins, flipping her hand over and squeezing his back.


	2. It's (not) safe here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 2 - pre canon, how Echo became a spy for Azgeda

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a brief description of how I think Echo ended up being an Azgedian spy. I've written her as never feeling like she had a home, because all my canon-compliant fics tie in together.

Echo is cold and alone. She’s never been this far away from home before but mother and father won’t wake up and she’s  _ hungry _ . So she’d left her village, away from the people who hurt her parents. Away from everything she’d ever known. 

It’s scary out here. There are animals she doesn’t recognise and the wind is hurting her cheeks. But she thinks she can hear people up ahead and they’ll have food. She hopes. 

When the trees clear up ahead the village she steps into is already bigger than the one she’s grown up in. But there is no one around. It’s late, they’re probably all in bed. But there is a huge building in the center and she can see a torch in one of the windows. So maybe someone there can give her something to eat. And maybe a warmer fur. She hopes they’re nice. 

Once she’s inside the building though, she suddenly feels nervous. She’s never met the person that lives here before. What if they don’t like children? What if they don’t have enough food to share? 

She panics. She’s already inside now. How is she going to get out again? 

Echo decides that the more pressing thing is finding something to eat. She won’t survive otherwise. And so she continues padding silently through the building. It’s darker than home, bigger but with fewer things. It doesn’t feel safe like her house does. 

It takes her a while, but she finally finds a food store. Letting the hunger get the better of her, she drops down beside the pile of dried meat and reaches across for a handful of fresh berries. She’s only ever had berries once and the second she takes a bite of the sweet fruit, she takes another handful. 

By the time she’s eaten enough that she’s feeling unwell and she’s stuffed her pockets with handfuls of food that won’t spoil, the door is pushed open. She freezes, not knowing what else to do. She’s been caught and she’s going to be in so much trouble. Even more trouble than when she’d played with her father’s sword. 

The man standing there smirks at her and grabs her shoulder without a word, dragging her out of the storeroom and down the winding halls. She doesn’t know where he’s taking her, just that she’s terrified. The halls wind and she loses track of where they’re going. 

_ “Natblida gon ai Haiplana,”  _ he says, opening a door at the end of a winding hallway. She wonders what  _ natblida _ they’re talking about. The only other person in the room is a woman, sitting on a high back chair. 

“ _ Yu leda kom fleimkepa.”  _ A woman asks, stepping forward and offering Echo a hand. 

Echo doesn’t know what a flamekeeper is, but she is hiding, so she nods her head and takes the woman's hand. If she was older, she would have noticed how forced her smile was. She would have noticed the cold and calculating look in her eye. She would have run. 

“ _ Ai nou gon na sak daun gifa in em in. _ ” I’m going to take care of you. 

*

It takes a few days before Echo realises that the woman who found her is the Queen of Azgeda. It takes less time for her to realise that she’s not in a caring place. When she wakes from a nightmare and seeks comfort from the strange woman, she is cast back into the hallway. When she asks for extra food she is pushed aside. She is shouted at for playing in the open. 

Within a week, Echo decides that it’s safer to keep to herself. To keep her mouth closed. To keep out of the way. So she stops speaking to anyone. She stays in her room, wrapped in the thick fur that is the only thing that feels safe.

It’s another week before Queen Nia approaches her and explains that she’s going to be a novitiate. She doesn’t know what that means, but she knows better than to argue. And so she’s taught how to hold a sword and a dagger, how to use her strength, how to fight physically. She’s paired against other children her age, all of whom she’s able beat with ease. 

She’s jealous when they return to the group and laugh with their friends and are collected by their parents. She’s not allowed to sit with the group, she has to return to Queen Nia’s side, where she is lectured on her technique, even if though she’s the best.

She’s been living in the palace for nearly six months when she meets Prince Roan. He’s nine, three years older than her, and tries to coax her out to play, but she’s scared of what Queen Nia would say. She’s not allowed to play with the other children. So she’d definitely not be allowed to play with the Prince of Azgeda. 

But that doesn’t discourage him. He starts to collect things for her, things she can play with and a piece of charcoal he says she can draw with. They don’t talk, but sometimes he stays and draws with her, until he almost feels like a friend. 

That is until Queen Nia catches them one day and screams at her son to get out before turning on Echo. She shouts that she’s not to interact with the Prince. She’s told that she’s not royalty and that she is not to act like it. She’s reminded that Nia took her in out of the goodness of her heart and to not push her luck.

And so she loses the closest thing she has to a friend.

*

She’s been living with Queen Nia for a year the first time someone beats her in training. It’s by another girl that lives in the palace, but has only been there for a couple of weeks. She strikes Echo from behind, causing her to fall and hit her head. She feels tears well in her eyes and she blinks them back rapidly before pushing herself up into a sitting position. She puts her hand to her head and her fingers find a wet, sticky patch. Blood. She’s never been hurt before in training and she’s not sure what to do. She glances at Nia, for reassurance and meets a furious glare.

“Get up,” she says, cold. “We’re leaving.” 

Echo scampers out of the ring and Nia grabs her arm, her nails digging into her skin. She drags Echo back towards the palace, more than an hour before training was supposed to end. 

“I’m sorry,” Echo says, choking on a sob. “I didn’t see her coming.” 

“You’re not a night blood,” Queen Nia snaps, “you’re nothing.” 

“I’m not a what?” She asks forcing her voice steady and trying to peel the fingers from her arm. It’s drawing more blood and Queen Nia is scowling at it. Echo is pretty sure that’s what the problem is.

She’s shouted at for her blood being the wrong colour. She’s shouted at for lying. For taking advantage. For things she didn’t realise she was doing. She’s shouted at until she stops crying because she can’t cry anymore. She’s shouted at until she’s sent to her room.

“I’ll deal with you later,” Nia decides, dropping into a chair and pinching her nose between her thumb and her forefinger. 

It’s the next day before Queen Nia comes to see her. Echo is sitting on her bed, shaking in fear. She doesn’t like the palace and she’s terrified of the queen, but she doesn’t want to be kicked out. She’s nearly eight, but she can’t survive on her own. She doesn’t know how to hunt. She doesn’t know how to make shelter. She doesn’t know how to survive. 

“I’ve decided you can stay,” the queen snaps. “I’ll find a use for you.”

*

Six years later, she’s sneaking into Polis, disguised as a Trikru orphan to find information on Heda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Natblida gon ai Haiplana' = 'A nightbleeder, my queen.'  
> 'Yu leda kom fleimkepa.' = 'You're hiding from the flamekeeper.'  
>  _I think. ___


	3. I'll be there for you, because you're there for me too

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3 - favourite relationship, Echo and Raven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was really reaching for a title when I named this, don't judge me.

Being in space is terrible. Echo hates literally everything about it. It’s weird to walk and she doesn’t understand why. The air doesn’t feel right and it always smells the same. It’s always a little bit cold but it’s not the cold she’s used to. It's a weird kind of cold. She can’t find the right amount of layers that keep her comfortable. She can’t move as stealthily as she’s used to because when she steps on the tin floor it sounds like it echoes through the entire ring. She just wants to go home.

But home is burning below them. 

The worst part though isn't the weird air or the lack of privacy or the fact she hasn't had fresh food in months, it's how alone and out of place she feels. It’s not like she’s not used to being alone, it’s all she’s ever been. She’s just not used to being in a group. She’s used to having privacy. She’s not accustomed to sharing meal times. And it’s with a group of people that are already friends. That already care about each other. People that put all their own lives at risk to save each other. Echo can’t remember ever having someone she would risk her life for. And she's definitely never had someone who would risk their life for her.

With the exception of the  _ Freikdreina _ (and even she seems to fit in better than Echo does), they’re a family. A family in mourning and wherever she goes, she feels unwelcome. So more often than not she finds herself walking the ring, exploring what she can and hiding from the others. She’s always liked her own company and it feels less lonely when she’s not the outsider of a group. 

They’ve been in space for what would have been the whole winter if there were seasons in space when she finds herself in what she’s heard Raven call the control room. It’s dark in here, only the lights from the screen illuminating the room and it doesn’t look like anyone is coming back, so she pulls the door behind her quietly. 

With the door shut and the weird humming in the room blocking out any other noise, Echo feels like she can let out a breath. She collapses in one of the big chairs, her stomach surging when it spins because that’s just something else she’s not used to. Chairs are supposed to be stationary. Why change that? Why do any of the weird things that seem to happen in space?

She lets out another shaky breath. This time, one of frustration and anxiety. It’s not the first time she wishes Bellamy hadn’t found her and she’d been able to go through with it. It’s hard up here, it’s so hard. And even in five years, when they get back to the ground, she has nothing to go back to. He should have just left her.

Angry tears start falling before she can stop them and suddenly she is crying. Which is the last thing she wanted but once she’s started she can’t stop. She’s frustrated, overwhelmed, angry and lonely. And everything she’d normally do to make herself feel better, she’s unable to do in space. She wants to go for a walk through the trees or dig her fingers into the ground or dive into the water. Anything that would ground her. Everything she can’t do here. 

Frustrated, she reaches for the metal cup that makes the already strange water taste stranger and hurls it across the room. It clatters against the wall and bounces into the corner but it doesn’t make her feel better. So she grabs the one sitting next to it and throws that as well. 

“Do you mind not destroying it in here?” Raven asks, leaning against the door frame, looking amused. “If we ever want to get out of here, I need this all working.”

“Sorry,” Echo mumbles, standing up with the intention of pushing past Raven and finding somewhere else to hide and probably cr. But Raven seems to notice the tears down her cheeks and grabs her wrist softly.

“Are you okay?” Raven asks, looking at Echo with concern that she’s not used to seeing directed at her. It’s disconcerting. 

“No,” Echo answers, before she can think any better of it. “I just… I can’t do this.”

“I know it’s not easy,” Raven says as if she was talking to a friend, even though it’s their first real conversation, “but we don’t have another choice. And sitting in here feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to make it any better.”

“What do you suggest then?” Echo asks, trying to keep the hostility out of her voice. There’s no point in pushing away the only person who’s really spoken to her in three months. 

“Putting an effort in,” Raven says, rolling her eyes. “Being part of the group. You’re not alone up here.”

“You’re already a group though,” Echo says quietly, looking away from Raven. “You look out for each other. You’re a - a family.”

“I’m not saying you have to be everyone's best friend,” she says, finally dropping her hand. She immediately misses the contact. It's a reminder, just for a second, that she's not up here alone. “just, don’t skulk around. Find something to do. Help out.”

“I don’t know how -” Echo begins, but Raven interrupts.

“I can teach you," Raven says, "you just have to be willing."

“Okay,” she agrees after a moments deliberation. "Okay."

“And families - can grow,” Raven says. “Remember that.”

*

Which is how Echo wakes up the next morning (or what she thinks is morning, it’s always dark outside) to someone pounding on her door. 

“ _ Tu tika _ ,” she calls and frowns because it’s probably someone from  _ Skaikru _ . “Two seconds.” 

She pulls on a pair of leggings and opens the door to the room she’d chosen to sleep in. Raven is standing in the hallway looking both impatient and as though she’d been up for hours. 

“If I’m going to teach you,” she begins, turning down the hall and gesturing for Echo to follow, “you have to teach me Trigedasleng.” 

“I guess,” Echo agrees, stifling a yawn and following Raven. She’s not used to getting out of bed so soon after waking up. She’s used to laying there for an hour and hoping the kitchen is empty when she goes to choke down some of the green sludge they call food. It had literally put one of them in a coma for a week and they still choose to eat it. Just another part of space she doesn't understand.

“And I’ll teach you how to be useful,” Raven says, letting them into the control room. Echo doesn’t say anything because her whole life she’s been anything but useless. Ever since she was a child she’s always had a job to do. Now she’s standing here, feeling exactly as Raven describes her. 

Raven sets her to work though, untangling coils of wire and winding them back up neatly. It feels as though Raven made the job up, but it at least gives her something to focus on other than the dark thoughts that are threatening to spill out. And for that at least, she's grateful. 

It takes a few days of following Raven around like a child before she’s able to use her initiative and find things that need work before Raven directs her. And she was right. Echo still misses earth and Azgeda more than she ever thought possible, but having something to do has given her life purpose again. She gets out of bed and knows what she is going to do with her day, rather than laying there thinking about.

She’s never really had friends before. Acquaintances. Allies.  _ Enemies _ . But never friends. And maybe she could find one with Raven? The girl who had given her something else to focus on, in one of her darkest moments. Especially considering that now she’s so content chatting to Echo, despite the somewhat abrasive answers she often receives. 

“Which is why you always have to double check the settings before starting. You never know what someone else fucked up,” Raven is rambling. Echo would never admit it but she hasn’t been listening. She has no idea what Raven has been talking about for the last hour, but the companionship has been nice. 

“Right,” Echo agrees, not looking up from the pieces of scrap metal that she is sorting into piles of ‘useful’ and ‘useless.’ 

“What did you do on the ground?” Raven asks, which makes her think that she knows Echo wasn’t listening. 

“I was a -” she pauses. She was a lot of things. A spy, a warrior, a prisoner, an advisor, a criminal, a traitor. How does she answer this without making Raven think even less of her? Her people tried to destroy  _ Skaikru _ . Admittedly,  _ Skaikru _ did the same. But Echo has no one here on her side. And so she sighs and answers with, “does it matter? They kicked me out.” 

“You’re up here now,” Raven says, “so that counts for something.” She says it as though it’s obvious. And it’s not. It’s the most confusing thing in the world. Because how could the people she’s been at war with actually care about here? How could they even want her here?

“What did you do down there?” Echo asks, instead of trying to analyse it further. 

“ _ Everything _ ,” Raven grins. “They’d all be dead ten times over, without me.”

Echo lets out a sharp laugh, but she can’t even say she’s surprised. All Raven had done as long as Echo has known her is save them. Over and over again.

*

It takes another few weeks and then Echo is following Raven to meal times without a second thought. She laughs quietly at a joke Harper makes and she answers a question Monty asks about what Raven and her had been doing all day. 

She pretends not to notice the group looking at her in surprise and focuses intently on the green sludge that they call food until Emori breaks the silence and speaks to Bellamy. He answers colder than normal and she assumes it’s because of her. She doesn’t blame him. He has every right not to want her here after everything that happened on the ground. Even if he’s the reason she’d ended up in space in the first place. She's not the one who's supposed to be up here.

The following night, Echo is keeping Raven company while she works. She doesn’t really know enough about the tech to actually help her but she is beginning to prefer not being alone. She still hasn’t gotten the hang of telling the time without the sun and she knows Raven would work all night if someone doesn’t stop her and tell her to go to sleep. They’re trying to get communication with the bunker working, at least to let them know they’re alive and it’s been something they’ve been working on for over two months. 

“It shouldn’t be this hard,” Raven snaps, flicking a switch and throwing herself back in her chair, it slides across the room and Echo watches her hand come down to massage her hip. It’s not the first time Echo has wondered about it, but Raven has never offered the information first. So Echo’s never asked. 

“Then it’s time for a break,” a new voice calls, strolling into the room with an armful of cups.  _ Four _ cups. Not three. Harper knew Echo would be in her. 

“A break with moonshine,” Emori adds, following Harper into the room. She holds up a bottle of murky liquid in her good hand, a small smirk on her face.  _ In her hand _ , a voice in Echo’s head corrects her. These people are beginning to look past her flaws, she needs to do the same to them. 

“The only kind of break I’ll take,” Raven says, reaching for a cup and holding it out for Emori to fill up. “

"You need to take more of the regular kind of breaks," Harpers chastises, offering Echo a cup. 

"Thanks," she mutters, taking it and letting Emori fill it up. She's had alcohol before, once when she was pretending to be an orphaned member of Trikru and another time when Azgeda had won a particularly gruelling battle and no one had remembered to kick her out of the celebrations. But the moonshine that Monty somehow knows how to make, is something different. It burns her throat and there is no part of it that tastes good. But like the others, she tries to keep a blank face while she chokes it down. She doesn't want to be seen as weak. 

"What are you working on?" Harper asks, screwing her face up as she takes a sip of the liquid.

"Comms to the ground," Raven says, "I want to get hold of Octavia. I just want to know the bunker survived." 

"Don't talk like that," Harper whispers. "I don't even want to think that it hasn't."

"It was designed to withstand a nuclear war," Raven says, "I'm sure they're fine." 

"Octavia has got it handled. She'll have them safe," Harper says, sounding as though she's trying to convince herself more than anyone else. Echo tries to ignore her thoughts that anyone living under Octavia's rule isn't safe. It's not her place to say.

Echo listens to the girls as the conversation moves from the ground and the comms Raven can't fix to other topics, like the fact that they're worried about Bellamy and that Murphy is still holding a grudge against Monty for 'poisoning' him. It's nice, listening to them talk comfortably in front of her and not having them throw glances at her and muttering under their breaths when they think she's not listening. It feels like she's actually part of the group. And that's something she's not used to. 

They're three glasses in and Harper and Emori are giggling about something that Echo has stopped listening to and Raven is ranting about the fact that she's now the one who feels useless. Her words are slurring together and Echo's movements feel slow and exaggerated. She's never been drunk before, but she thinks she is now. It's a weird feeling. She doesn't feel as though she's in control of her body. 

"Let's talk about something else," Echo decides when Raven glares at the computer again. 

"What do you want to talk about?" Raven asks, sighing dramatically. 

"Tell me something I don't know," Echo says and holds up a finger when Raven starts talking. "Something not about the tech. Something about you." 

Raven pauses for a moment, clearly thinking. "I've never really had a family. You all up here are as close as I've gotten. I mean, I had Finn. He was the only person on the Ark who really cared. But once we got down to the ground, he showed his true colours. And then I had my friends on the ground, but it was constant war. We didn’t really have time to be a family. And now they’re mostly up here.”

“I’ve never had a family either,” Echo says slowly. She’s never told anyone her story before now, but she thinks Raven will understand. Or she’s just drunk enough that she doesn’t care. “My parents died when I was young. I don’t remember them. The Ice Queen took me in because she thought I was a  _ nitblida _ , I knew too much by the time she realised I wasn’t. She had to let me stay but she was never family. None of  _ Azgeda _ were.” 

“We can be your family,” Raven insists. “We don’t need Azgeda or stupid Finn.” 

Echo laughs, nodding her head. She doesn’t know much about Finn, just that Raven mentions him when she talks about her life before  _ Skaikru _ came to the ground. 

“We don’t,” she agrees. “Just moonshine.”

“And each other,” Raven says. She gestures around the room and she’s obviously including Harper and Emori, but the thought of being included spreads a warmth that Echo isn’t used to. And this time it isn’t the moonshine. 

Half a glass later, they’re laying on the floor next to each other, telling stories about their past. Harper and Emori have both gone to bed, so they’re alone and talking about things Echo would never normally tell another person. But she likes Raven. She’d almost say they’re friends. 

Raven finishes a story about Bellamy’s early days as a leader and sits up. She groans as she stretches out her leg, wincing as she rubs it. “It doesn’t take to sitting on the metal floor for very long,” she explains.

“You never told me what happened?” Echo says, too intoxicated to wonder if that’s something she should be asking.

“Dear old Murph,” Raven says. “He shot me.” 

“Do you want me to kill him?” Echo asks, suddenly wondering if the friendship that she thought she could see between Raven and Murphy was forced.

“No,” Raven laughs, reaching over to push Echo. It’s a gesture that would usually have Echo tense but she finds herself laughing. Moonshine is strange. “It happened a long time ago.”

Echo listens, enthralled, as Raven explains that Murphy had shot her through the Dropship they had come to earth in, how he wasn’t aiming for her but for Bellamy, how he’d then stayed with her because he didn’t want to die alone, how they’d gradually repaired their friendship. She tells her that she doesn’t blame Murphy for what happened, not anymore and that she knows he blames himself more than she does. 

“Are you sure you don’t want me to hurt his leg so you’re even?” Echo asks, when she finishes talking.

“I’m sure,” Raven says softly, “he’s been through as much as the rest of us and he’s come out better for it.” 

“Fine,” Echo agrees, “Just say the word and I’ll do it though.” 

“Sure,” Raven says.

They fall asleep, side by side, leaning on the metal walls of the control room and for the first time Echo feels comfortable. Being in space might suck, but the people she’s sharing it with are people that she is growing to care for and genuinely like. It’s not something she’s ever experienced before and while it’s strange, she likes it. She’s found safety and friendship and she’s actually glad that Bellamy stopped her the day they left. She’s found a  _ family.  _


	4. Trust in me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 4 - favourite time jump head canon!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is unfinished and if I go back to it, I'll probably post separately! But ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Echo and Bellamy have only really been simpatico for about a month. And it’s taken three years to get to a point where they can be in the same room as each other without fighting. And it took Raven screaming at them both to get a grip for them to even get to this stage. And Echo remembers that Bellamy had once said he’d never trust her again. She doesn’t blame him. She hasn’t given him much reason to trust her.

Which is why she hesitates in the doorway before stepping forward. Bellamy is sitting on the floor, head leaning against the window looking down and the mostly barren earth below.

They’ve been in space for three years today. They’d celebrated by drinking some of what Monty calls moonshine and Echo is a little dizzy. Two years and they’ll be back on earth. Two years and she goes back to being an Azgedian outcast.

She’s beginning to believe that maybe the six people up here might let her stay with them though. She might be an outcast from her clan. But she has a family. With some of them at least.

“Can I join you?” She asks, stepping tentatively towards him. Both because she’s nervous and a little drunk. She will never get used to moonshine.

“Sure,” Bellamy says, moving over even though there is plenty of room. She sits down opposite him and angles her body so she’s facing him.

“What are you thinking about?” She asks, before she can stop herself. He looks upset and if she can make him feel better, she will.

“The ground.”

“Two more years,” she says, looking down at the earth. The spot they’d dubbed Eden hadn’t grown in the three years they’d been in space. She’s not sure what they’re going back to, but she has a feeling it’s not going to be big enough for all of them. Especially when it was his sister that banished her.

“Two more years,” he echoes.

They sit in silence for a while longer, each lost in their own thoughts about what the future holds. About what’s going to happen when they get back to the ground. About all the things they left behind.

“I left her behind,” Bellamy mumbles, throwing his head back. She winces when she hears it crack against the wall and she makes a mental note to not let him sleep for a while. She wouldn’t be surprised if he concussed himself.

“You didn’t leave her behind,” Echo says slowly, trying to gather her tipsy thoughts to tell him something comforting. She didn’t know Clarke very well, but she feels the gap she left behind. Feels it from all of them. “It’s not your fault.”

“I should have gone with her,” he mumbles. “She shouldn’t have been trying to do it herself.”

“So you’d both be dead?” Echo asks. It’s meaner than she means it to be, but she can’t stand watching Bellamy blame himself for something that’s not his fault.

“She was my best friend,” Bellamy says, ignoring her words. “What if she just needed help?”

“We need you up here,” she says. “We couldn’t have gotten this far if you didn’t make it.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not my fault,” he mutters, looking bitterly down at earth. “I should have waited for her.”

“Raven took off before she got back,” Echo says. “Does that make it her fault?”

“No,” he says. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

“If Monty hadn’t burnt his hands,” she begins again, “you could have gone with her. Does that make it his fault?”

“No, of course not.”

“Why are you blaming yourself?”

He looks at her for a moment, a look she can’t place, before he sighs and nods his head. “Thank you.”

She’s not sure what he’s thanking her for, so she just nods and leans against the window, lost in her own thoughts. She enjoys his company, even when they’re not talking.

“Do you miss earth?” He asks, they’ve been silent for a while and she’s a little surprised he’s the one who broke it.

“I miss earth,” she confirms, wondering if he hears the messages that it’s just earth she misses. Not the people or the war or the clans. She misses the trees and the water and the feeling of wind on her face. She misses the ground crunching beneath her feet and she misses the smell of the wildflowers. She misses so much. But there are things she doesn’t miss at all.

“So do I,” Bellamy agrees. “But I’m glad we’re not in that bunker.” He says we’re, including her and like usual, she’s a little taken aback.

“I can’t imagine being underground for six years is any worse than being in space,” Echo hums.

“Underground with 13 warring clans?” Bellamy asks. “Give me space any day.”

“Your sister would have sorted them out pretty quickly,” she says, almost laughing at the thought of being under Octavia’s rule.

“Still,” Bellamy says, “I’d rather be up here.”

It takes a moment for Echo to agree. She likes the people she’s with and she can’t say the same for those in the bunker.

She let’s Bellamy steer the conversation away from the ground and Clarke and to things that seem to make him happy, like the books they’ve found. Raven had taught her and Emori to read in exchange for lessons in Trigedasleng and on how to use a sword. They’d spend majority of the first year training and learning from each other, before they really fell into comfortable friendships. Bellamy is telling her about a copy of The Iliad that he’d been amazed to find and promising to loan it to her.

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Echo asks, interrupting Bellamy before he can launch into another tale.

“Should I not be nice to you?” He asks, looking at her in confusion. She feels bad for a minute but then she has to ask. She has to know.

“No, you should but,” Echo sighs, “but I don’t understand why.”

“Aren’t we friends?”

“You said you could never trust me again,” she tells him. She can see him go back to the day, three years ago, where she had asked him the question. Where he had told her he couldn’t. 

“I didn’t think I could,” Bellamy says slowly, still drunk and clearly thinking about what he’s saying, “but things are different to what I thought. I’m glad you’re up here with us. When I found you the day we came up here - well, I’m glad I didn’t lose you too. Even if I didn’t know I would be at the time. You’re my friend.”

Echo’s heart swells. She likes Bellamy, she always has, but hearing him tell say that he’s happy she’s alive means so much to her. It’s another piece of confirmation that these people are who she belongs with. “You’re my friend too.”

“We found each other in a cage,” Bellamy says and Echo can’t help the shudder at the mention of Mount Weather, “who’d have thought we’d end up here?”


	5. Ain't no need to go outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just realised I never finished/uploaded this! What am I?

“Not yet,” Bellamy mumbles, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. 

“Bellamy,” Echo sighs, trying to extricate herself from his grip. Even if it is just to snooze her alarm for five minutes. 

“Snow day,” he grumbles, burying his face in her hair. “We don’t have to get up.”

“Let me turn off the alarm,” she says softly, peeling his fingers apart and wiggling away from him. They do have a day off, so she switches the alarm off and sets another one for an hour later. She still has things to do.

She lets herself drift off to sleep again, content in the arms of the man she loves.

“Echo,” Bellamy groans, when her alarm starts ringing again. “We have the day off.”

“We still have things we need to do,” Echo reminds him. She sits up, rubbing her eyes and throwing her legs off the bed. It’s all too tempting to get back in and sleep.

“What could you possibly have to do?” Bellamy asks. “We were literally up all night planning.” 

“I want to vacuum and clean the bathroom and the oven needs scrubbing,” Echo begins, ticking things off on her fingers, even though Bellamy hasn’t even opened his eyes yet.

“No way,” he says. “That stuff can wait. We never get the same day off.” 

Echo sighs, because he’s not wrong. Between the soccer team Bellamy coaches and the self defence course she teaches with Raven and both their jobs, they haven’t been home all day together for weeks. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be productive. 

They can spend time together while they clean the house. It will be a good way to hang out and be productive. They'll have fun. 

“We need to shovel the driveway,” she insists. 

“Echo, it’s a snow day. We’re not going outside. It can wait.” 

"We can just get this stuff done in the morning?" Echo suggests softly, pulling on a pair of leggings and throwing her hair into a bun on top of her head.

"Can't we just have the day off completely?" He grumbles, not making an effort to get out of bed. "Pretend we're not adults who have responsibilities?"

"What do you want to do instead?" She asks. "We can't just sit around all day."

"Watch that mindless sitcom that Emori keeps telling us to start? Play board games? Bake a cake?" He says, finally opening his eyes to look at her. She doesn't know when it happened, but she's a sucker for his puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

"Fine," she sighs, flopping back on top of the covers. "We don't have to spend the entire day doing housework. But I'm vacuuming and you can't stop me." 

"Watch me," he grins, reaching for her again and wrapping her up in his arms.

It takes another half an hour to convince Bellamy to get out of bed and he only agrees when he decides they can have a shower together. She lets him drag her in and he turns the water as high as he can stand it, knowing she prefers it hot. Bellamy washes her hair and takes her hands and pulls her close. For a second she forgets about all the jobs she wanted to do, warm and safe in his arms. But then she remembers it's probably his plan and pulls away, turning off the taps and reaching for her towel. 

"We're not doing housework today," Bellamy tells her, once they're dressed and in the kitchen. 

"We have a day off," Echo whines. "I just want to make the most of it."

"So do I," he says, wrapping his arms around her shoulders and walking her backwards. She steps with him until her legs hit the back of one of their mismatched dining chairs and she's forced to sit down. 

"Bell," she accuses, giggling a little. She hasn't really spent time with him lately and it is nice to muck around a little. Maybe the vacuuming can wait until the afternoon.

"I'm making you breakfast."

"Toast is fine," she says.

"Not everything in life has to be efficient," he tells her, pulling a mixing bowl from the cupboard and sitting it in front of her. "We're making pancakes."

"Banana," Echo says after a moments pause. "Make them banana." It's a sweet treat she hasn't had since her childhood. Her mum used to make them for her on the weekends. It's one of the only memories she has of her before she died. 

"Deal," Bellamy says, pulling ingredients out of the fridge and setting her to work cracking eggs.

Bellamy stalls the cooking, throwing a handful of flour into her damp hair and letting her wipe some of the batter onto his cheek. She knows he's doing it on purpose so they have to shower again, but it's enough fun that she doesn't care.

And when he serves the pancakes, drizzled in maple syrup with a hot chocolate on the side, it's definitely worth the second shower and the late breakfast and the morning of fun with him. Even if she didn't get the housework done. 

Once they're clean and dry again, Echo tries to escape long enough to get out the vacuum cleaner but she's not even surprised when Bellamy catches her before she slips out of the room. 

"Sit and watch a couple of episodes with me?" He asks, holding up a DVD Emori had loaned them months ago. 

"Just a few," she says, settling down on the couch and snuggling into his chest. They're three episodes in and Echo is contemplating getting up because she's pretty sure that Bellamy is asleep. But the steady rise and fall of his chest and his arm pulled tight around her shoulders is too comfortable. She doesn't want to move. And so she decides that maybe spending the day doing nothing wouldn't be such a bad thing. She already feels more relaxed than she has in weeks, which is a nice change and she can catch up on the book she's been reading while Bellamy naps. And maybe she'll call Raven or Harper or Emori and chat. It would be nice to catch up with them. 

She slips out of Bellamy's grip, careful not to wake him and goes into their room in search of her book. 

"I thought I said no house work," Bellamy calls, leaning against the doorframe. He's sleep mussed and cranky looking and Echo can't help wrapping her arms around his shoulders and kissing him. 

"I was looking for this," she says, holding up her book. "Since you fell asleep on me." 

"That's a relief," he says, "but I want to watch another episode." 

“You didn’t even see the last one,” she teases, following him back towards the couch. 

“I heard some of it,” he grumbles, dropping back down and opening his arms. “Have you finally realised that you don’t always have to be doing something?” 

“I just thought I’d let you win this one,” she smiles, settling back into his arms and pressing play. 

“Whatever,” he laughs. “You just realised is was actually a good idea.”

She laughs, but turns her attention back to the TV because she doesn’t want to actually  _ tell  _ him that he was right. Even if he is. It is actually nice to just be able to relax and spend time with the man she loves, without any other responsibilities pressing on them. 

“I used to do this with Octavia,” Bellamy says, about halfway through the episode. Echo tenses at the mention of his sister, because it’s not a nice subject. But Bellamy is smiling fondly at the memory, so she doesn’t say anything yet. “We just to make forts and make cakes and not do our chores. I told her you weren’t allowed to do anything on snow days because we couldn’t afford to do anything.” 

“I bet she loved it though,” Echo says softly. It’s just another amazing thing that Bellamy had done for his sister growing up. 

“She did,” Bellamy agreed. “It’s been nice to do it again, with you _.”_

“It has been nice.” 

“Even if I did have to force you into it a little bit,” Bellamy teases, lowering his face and capturing her bottom lips in his. She brings her hands up to tangle in his hair and hold him close.  

“I love you,” she whispers when they pull apart. 

“I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> [My tumblr is here](http://raven-reyes-of-sunshine.tumblr.com/)


End file.
